The new poinsettia cultivar originated as a pink bracted sport of `Peterstar` (U.S. Pat. No. P.P. 8,259) in my greenhouse in Skibby, Denmark in 1991. It was induced through irradiation of vegetative plants with 2500 rads of gamma radiation, and was selected from about 200 mutants so produced, because of its dark pink bracts, large flowers, strong stems, self-branching, and dark green leaves, traits which help distinguish it from other poinsettia cultivars, and seemed to make it a desirable plant for commercial greenhouse production. `Peterstar Pink` differed from its parent `Peterstar` in having dark pink bracts as compared to the bright red bracts of `Peterstar`. `Peterstar Pink` resembles poinsettia `15-84` (U.S. Pat. No. P.P. 7,310) but distinctly differs in the following traits. `Peterstar Pink` has a more compact growth habit and flowers earlier phenotypically, `Peterstar Pink` resembles its parent `Peterstar` (U.S. Pat. No. P.P. 8,259) except for those traits associated with color mutations. The morphology, plant vigor and flowering response times are very similar. The flower bract color of `Peterstar Pink` is dark pink, R.H.S. 51A for the small inner bracts and R.H.S. 51B for the larger outer bracts. The red bract color of `Peterstar` is near R.H.S. 46B. The leaf petiole color of `Peterstar` is light green, that of `Peterstar` is red.
The foliage and bract colors of `Peterstar Pink` are distinctly darker than known poinsettias of similar derivation. Leaf color, darker than R.H.S. 147A, and bract color, R.H.S. 51B for large bracts and R.H.S. 51A for smaller bracts are darker than those for `Pegirl` (U.S. Pat. No. P.P. 8,274). The flower bract color "dark pink", differs from both `Beckmann's Altrosa` (U.S. Pat. No. P.P. 9,336) and `Fisflirt` (U.S. Pat. No. P.P. 9,385) described as pink with a slight salmon cast and salmon pink, respectively. With respect to flowering response time, `Peterstar Pink` flowers at almost the same time under natural daylight conditions as `Beckmann's Altrosa` and 4-5 days earlier than either `Pegirl` or `Fisflirt`. Plant height of flowering plants is comparable for `Peterstar Pink` and `Beckmann's Altrosa`. Both are shorter than `Pegirl`.
After selection, `Peterstar Pink` was vegetatively reproduced from stem cuttings for test purposes in Encinitas, Calif. By subjecting clones of this plant to successive generations of vegetative propagation, it was demonstrated that the distinctive characteristics of `Peterstar Pink` held true from generation to generation. Grown under the same greenhouse environment, `Peterstar Pink` had the same growth habit and flowering response time as the parent plant `Peterstar`.